Touya Ikeda
A typical Capricorn through and through: responsible, a born leader, ambitious and practical. His ambition has led him to be the youngest VP IYS Programming has ever had. If everything goes as planned he will become the next president of the company before he's forty simply because of his sheer desire to succeed. It probably also helps that he is willing to do practically anything the president wants in order to move up the ladder. Cosplay at the fantasy conventions where IYS is advertising a game, play croquet on the weekends with the president and his wife, stay extra hours, take his work home with him... so far there hasn't come a point where he actually won't do something. As he is only thirty it may seem like he has put his career above everything else in his life. However this couldn't be further from the truth as he cares deeply for his mother and his sister (although he highly doubts Miki is aware of his devotion to her). If anything the thing he has put behind everything else is love as he has only ever dated casually a few times over the years. He does not consider this a bad thing, as he doesn’t feel that he has time for relationships. He would much rather focus on work than have to take someone out on a date to keep them happy. Although Touya considers this a strength, he is very much a workaholic. Most of the time girls, and the one boy he dated, spend a few weeks trying to date him, before getting fed up with his tendencies and end up leaving him. His workaholic ways also make his mother worried about him, since he always seems to bring his work home and is always tired. Touya is also a perfectionist who likes things done a certain way. And if they aren't done right, well, someone had better be prepared for some yelling. Except he doesn't yell. At all. No, instead of yelling Touya finds that speaking calmly yet deadly way is much, much more effective in getting someone to do something right. However, being a perfectionist also has its negative points as he requires anything he does himself to be up to this same standard. He will often end up overworking himself out of a desire to get a minute detail perfect when it was really fine in the first place and didn't need all of the extra work he put into it. He can also come off as being rather coldhearted as he so often chooses to hide his own feelings behind a mask of indifference. In the business world this is necessary in order to move ahead without being taken advantage of, but in a more personal world this can only cause problem after problem. It is a persona that Touya only truly drops around his direct family: his mother and his sister. Although he shows it in a much more subtle way, Touya can be just as stubborn as Miki at times. Particularly when it concerns his obstinate little sister and her obnoxious ways. For instance he stubbornly refuses to give up trying to get her to return home. Also like his sister he has an irrational fear of bees. Appearance Despite being thirty years old Touya looks more like he's in his early twenties. Whether this is good or not he's not sure as he often attracts a lot of unwanted attention from the female population. Especially when he couldn't call being popular a strength. Standing at around 5' 9" he is just taller than average and has a fairly average build for someone his height. He doesn't possess a lot of muscle as his job requires him to be sitting at a desk most of the time, though he is hardly what anyone could call weak. He also wears contacts, as the years of eyestrain are finally catching up with him. History Touya was born to Atsushi and Etsuko Ikeda; a couple who came from prominent backgrounds but who both made poor life choices. As both of his parents were usually working he was raised primarily by a nanny. Though some children may see the nanny as a mother-figure, Touya was not one of them as he was perfectly aware of whom his mother was. She was the person who would come in after she thought he was asleep and kiss his forehead and whisper goodnight. His father, on the other hand, was much harder for him to acknowledge as he was always either at work or locked in his study. In a desire to make his parents proud, Touya became very studious. He used his time to study everything he could in order to make good grades in school and be at the top of his class. He was awarded with praise from both his parents and teachers, and hatred from his classmates. When he was eight the family moved to Osaka, where Touya again failed to make any friends his age. By this point he was relatively used to being alone, so this didn’t bother him too much. He continued to focus on his studies, which eventually culminated in him being accepted to a prestigious senior high school in Tokyo. The day his parents found out was one of the happiest of his life. He felt guilty for applying there as it meant that the family had to go back to Tokyo, but his guilt was overshadowed by the sudden announcement that his mother was pregnant. Of course he knew the process of how babies came into existence, and he knew about childbirth, but he was still unsure about this new development. He saw how much his parents struggled to pay off their debts and pay for his school, and he worried that the new addition would cause them more trouble. However, the moment he laid eyes on his baby sister he was wrapped around her little finger. That is, until she grew older and became the thorn in his side. While he was busy trying to focus on school, she wanted nothing more than to play with him. Touya thought that his younger sister was a pain more than anything else. She followed him around constantly, asking him to do this or that for her. She would ask him to play "horsie" of all things, and have him carry her around all afternoon when all he wanted to do was study. He ended up having to study late at night after she was already asleep for the day. Thankfully he was still able to maintain his grades, so that he was able to get into Tokyo University. There he studied computer programming, just as his father did, as he wanted to one day design software that would be beneficial to students who needed help studying. At twenty-two and a brand new graduate from university, Touya found that he was ready to move to the next step. And that meant that it was time to leave his parent’s house and find an apartment of his own. When he announced this to everyone his parents were happy, but Miki was distraught. She screamed at him, telling him that he was so selfish to abandon them. He was dismayed that she was so upset by his decision, but he felt that it was now or never. So, trusting his mother to take care of Miki, he left and moved into the Azabu district and got a job at IYS Programming. All too soon his life was changed once more when he received a phone call at work from one of his father’s friends. The man told him that he had to get to the hospital right away; that his father had been involved in a car accident. He rushed there as soon as he could but it was already too late. His father was dead, and his mother was inconsolable. His sister seemed to be in a state of utter shock and wouldn’t respond to anyone. He did his best to support his family, sending them money when he could afford to, but overall he stayed away. Not because he fully wanted to, but because he didn’t have the time to move back home. Besides, Miki still hadn’t forgiven him for leaving home, and had instead grown more and more hostile towards him. Over the next couple of years he worked his way up the ladder at IYS. During this time he dated a few times, but none of the relationships had lasted very long or ended well. He was a bit ashamed to admit that at the rate he was going his mother would have to arrange a marriage meeting for him to ever have a chance at finding someone to marry. At least he could avoid that for a while, since she was preoccupied with Miki. Another change came when he was called to the hospital again, this time when it was his mother who was in a car accident. Hearing that she had fainted and finding it strange, he went with her to see a doctor. There they learned that she had Leukemia that just hadn’t presented itself until now. He was against her decision to refuse treatment, but there wasn’t anything he could do since she was legally allowed to make her own decisions. Over the next few years he sent her more money than ever so she wouldn’t have to work so hard, and he visited whenever possible. Each time he would try and force her to change her mind, and each time she would deny him. Finally, when Miki made up her mind to move out, she finally agreed to be treated. As soon as Miki had left he moved himself in. He worked harder than ever to pay her medical bills and make sure that she would be all right, even working himself into exhaustion on more than one occasion. However, he felt that this was fine, if it was for her. Within a year he had managed to become the vice president for IYS, through no real understanding of his own, and had managed to help his mother get back to a semblance of a normal life. She could no longer work fulltime, and she got tired easily, but she was starting to be the woman he remembered again. He also took over paying for Miki’s expenses, although he tried to get her to return home when he could. He respected his mother’s decision not to tell her, and felt the same way himself, so he always made excuses as to why she should move back. While taking care of his mother he got it into his head that it was necessary for Miki to have an arranged marriage. He believes that this would be the best thing for her as it would ensure her a decent future; a future that he wasn’t sure that he or their mother would otherwise be able to help her attain. And, given her extreme stubbornness and tendency to get mad over the littlest things, as well as her ability to hold a grudge, he was worried about just what sort of person she might attract on her own. Until he can see her safely married, or at the very least back home where he can keep a better eye on her, he is determined to do everything he can to make sure that she has a good future. Plot Coming Soon! Relationships Miki Ikeda Although Miki gets on his nerves whenever the two are in the same room as each other, Touya loves his little sister. To him family is one of the most important things in life, and will put their happiness above his own. To this extent he has agreed to his mother's request that they do not tell Miki of her disease so that the girl can remain blissfully ignorant and free of the responsibilities knowing would bring to her. While he secretly feels that this may cause her more resentment and potential regret he does understand where Etsuko is coming from and has not pressed the issue further. Aoi Miyazaki After meeting Aoi by chance at a game convention Touya began to develop feelings for the youth. He initially fought them, knowing that their age difference was going to be a problem. However eventually he realized that his feelings couldn't be ignored and the two began to date. Though he is still getting used to the ins and outs of being in a relationship, Touya truly loves Aoi and would do anything in his power for the boy. Klaus Von Schroeder Touya has a love-hate relationship with his employer, Klaus von Shroeder. While he loves the fact that Klaus lets him do virtually anything he wants with the company, he truly dislikes Klaus's odd quirks. However he always does agree to wear whatever odd costume Klaus wants him to if only because he knows the importance of keeping the compay's president contented. Trivia *Touya hates eggplant and broccoli. *Though he drinks his coffee black in public he in truth prefers coffee with two sugars and a splash of cream. Also See *Miki Ikeda *Aoi Miyazaki